Conselho Deliberativo of Corinthians expelled former president Andrés Sanchez from the club’s membership on Monday night. The meeting took place at Parque São Jorge, at Zona Leste of São Paulo, under strong institutional and police security. The reason for exclusion was the misuse of the association’s corporate card to pay personal expenses. The opinion calling for the maximum punishment was prepared by the agency’s Comissão and Ética. Of those present at the session, 112 councilors voted in favor of revoking the membership title, while 49 were against and six decided to abstain.
The extraordinary session exposes a deep political rupture behind the scenes at the black and white institution. The attendance recorded 167 members of the collegiate, which represents 58.8% of the total qualified quorum, made up of 84 active lifetime members and 200 three-year members. Former president Mario Gobbi tried to change the procedural rite at the beginning of the work by requesting that the election take place secretly. Ele also questioned whether Comissão’s report of Ética should not include a temporary suspension as an alternative to permanent exclusion. Contudo, the acting president of Conselho Deliberativo, Leonardo Pantaleão, maintained the determination of open voting with roll call.
Detalhes of voting and procedures for immediate effectiveness
The decision of the Corinthians collegiate brings an end to the internal administrative rite, without the need to call a general assembly to ratify the punishment. Andrés Sanchez’s technical defense, made up of three lawyers who attended Parque São Jorge’s theater at around 5:30 pm, did not speak publicly after the official result of the vote was released.
The process of formal notification to the former director has already begun to be structured by the organization’s board of directors. According to statutory guidelines, the effects of the loss of the social title come into effect at the moment the communication is delivered to the former agent.
- Votos for expulsion: 112 counselors (67.1% of the total present)
- Votos against expulsion: 49 counselors (29.3% of total attendees)
- Abstenções registered: 6 advisors (3.6% of total gifts)
- Total of voting advisors: 167 participants
- Attendance Percentual: 58.8% of Conselho Deliberativo
Clima tense at headquarters and fan demonstrations
The movement around Corinthians’s headquarters began in the afternoon, with the arrival of members of organized fans. Faixas with charges directed at advisors were extended to the bars of the main entrance, demanding strict voting and punishment for those responsible for financial losses to the club. Pela In the morning, posters in defense of Andrés Sanchez had been placed there by political allies, but ended up being removed by protesters against the former president’s stay.
A sound truck was parked in front of Parque São Jorge to play traditional team anthems and protest songs focused on financial management. Corinthians internal security worked closely with teams from Polícia Militar and Polícia Civil to surround access roads and ensure that counselors entered the theater without experiencing attempts at physical aggression or intimidation. Apesar the environment of extreme political rivalry and the crowd’s shouts of protest, police monitoring reported that there were no records of clashes or riots in the region.
Institutional Autonomia and possibility of dispute in the courts
The leadership of Conselho Deliberativo emphasized that the closure of the case at the club level is definitive and sovereign. Leonardo Pantaleão explained upon leaving the building that the statute gives the group total independence to judge the conduct of its peers and former managers in cases of misuse of administrative purposes.
The former president has the constitutional prerogative to activate Poder Judiciário if he considers that there was a restriction of defense or a formal error in the internal process. The Corinthians board noted that the right to action is guaranteed to any citizen, but reiterated that the sporting and associative process has been exhausted following the consolidation of these minutes. Andrés Sanchez presided over Corinthians in two different periods and was one of the club’s most influential names in the last two decades, which makes the punishment a historic milestone in Parque São Jorge’s team politics.